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All Czechia Prášily Poledník Lookout Tower

Poledník Lookout Tower

A Cold War secret surveillance tower used to spy on radio communications.

Prášily, Czechia

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Sebastián Wortys
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Poledník lookout tower.   Huhulenik/CC BY 3.0
Poledník lookout tower.   EnJoey/CC BY-SA 3.0
Poledník lookout tower.   Jakub Solovský/CC BY 2.0
The view from the tower.   Huhulenik/CC BY 3.0
Poledník lookout tower.   Sebastian Wortys (Atlas Obscura User)
The Poledník lookout tower as seen in 2016.   Sebastian Wortys (Atlas Obscura User)
Poledník lookout tower as seen in 2015.   Sebastian Wortys (Atlas Obscura User)
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About

The lookout tower at Poledník in Czechia is known today for its beautiful 360-degree views of the surrounding mountains, but during the Cold War, the structure was a well-kept military secret.

Situated at an elevation of over 4,300 feet and on the border with Germany, Poledník was perfectly suited for the creation of a radio surveillance base. A tower building equipped with communication technology was built in the 1960s. For the next couple of decades, it was used to keep tabs on radio dispatches from the land and the sea.

It was, for strategic reasons, left out of or misrepresented on many maps. This, combined with its location in a military region, meant it was fairly inaccessible until the the Velvet Revolution of 1989. The site was then abandoned and over a decade later, it was taken over by park authorities and converted into a lookout tower, from where significant peaks like Great Arber, Little Rachel, and Great Rachel are visible. The building also contains a museum detailing the region’s local history.

Related Tags

Towers Communism Cold War Radio History Maps Military History Military Secret Museums Soviet History

Community Contributors

Added By

Sebastian Wortys

Edited By

Kavya Ram Mohan

  • Kavya Ram Mohan

Published

September 11, 2017

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Sources
  • https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poledn%C3%ADk_(%C5%A0umava)#Rozhledna
  • http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ct24/domaci/2041200-poslanci-odlozili-hlasovani-o-narodnich-parcich-zeman-brojil-proti-hnedemu-mordoru
  • https://cestina20.cz/slovnik/ovar/
  • http://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/12/20-most-beautiful-observation-towers.html
  • http://www.npsumava.cz/en/3412/3773/clanek/
  • http://www.sumavanet.cz/modrava/fr.asp?tab=snet&id=1339&burl=&pt=RE&lng=en
  • http://marc.potuzak.sweb.cz/polednik.htm#1st
  • http://www.bruckneruvdum.cz/en/surroundings/polednik-meridian/
Poledník Lookout Tower
Unnamed Road
Prášily
Czechia
49.064059, 13.395168
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